aurato (11/15/2011)

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Why stop at a year? Maybe it runs every two years. Maybe it's a decade-ly report. I see your point, but I don't know any way to determine that they're not being used other than finding every single query that accesses this table (i.e. lots) and checking the execution plans of each one.

And I am doing research. This is my research now : /

It seems like the consensus is "don't do it it's not a big deal". But every book I've read says that you suffer performance degradation on inserts for each index that you have. I'm just trying to get to the bottom of this. No need to be hostile and talk about how I'm inches from being justifiably fired.

jared-709193 (11/15/2011)

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Ok, so how do you know those indexes are not being used. The query you gave us is not going to tell you if these are used or not. It only tells you if they have been accessed since the last restart. What if someone used to run a report that they have forgotten about. All of the sudden they remember it and start running it again. My CEO used to ask for a specific report only when the Board of Directors asked for it. Sometimes it was monthly, sometimes it was over a year.

The only way to tell if these indexes are used is to determine what accesses the columns that are indexed. Ask developers, search through report code, stored procedures. Nobody here can give you the "ok" to drop these. If you are that concerned about it, talk to a superior and tell them that you are convinced that they are not being used. Then explain that dropping them may affect performance if they are in fact used on something. Save the script for the index, and put it back when someone complains. If your business tolerates that (which one of my previous employers did), then do that. Otherwise, don't try to fix something that isn't broken :)

Jared

jared-709193 (11/15/2011)

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Now we understand your real concern. You don't want indexes there that are unused because you feel that it may affect performance. Let me ask you this... Are you seeing problems with performance on your inserts?

Jared

Ninja's_RGR'us (11/15/2011)

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I don't mean to be snippy and that's not my intention.


I guess I'm too tired. Logging off.

aurato (11/15/2011)

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When any large number of inserts or updates happens on the publication server, replication falls hours behind and kills report performance. I don't know if that's due to insert issues, though. I can't say that I've ever gone "Man that insert took way too long."

Ninja's_RGR'us (11/15/2011)

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I think you'd be better off starting a new thread with replication getting 1 hour behind as the title.


You'll get better help that way to solve your real issue .

Usually indexes are not the #1 culprit for this but I don't know how to debug this so I'm useless on that problem.

L8r.

aurato (11/15/2011)

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When any large number of inserts or updates happens on the publication server, replication falls hours behind and kills report performance. I don't know if that's due to insert issues, though. I can't say that I've ever gone "Man that insert took way too long."

jared-709193 (11/15/2011)

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Well, let's start with the fact that when you insert data into a replicated table in an array of 1000 records it is replicated as 1000 inserts. Not a set of 1000. So replication can get behind fairly quickly. The indexes are maintained on each individual server and should not affect replication. Also, if your servers are in different locations (WAN) you may want to set it up to pull from the subscriber instead of push. Also, where is your distributor? These things can all affect replication.

As far as the indexes... If I was reasonably sure that these are not being used I would drop them and save the script. If at some point someone complains about the performance of a yearly report, you tell them that there is not an index to help performance on that specific report and that you can help them improve performance by building one. I would always protect myself by being ready to say "well, it did not run that slow last time because there is more data in the table this year than last year. I can probably improve performance with this though." Then create the index and document WHY it was created somewhere.

Jared